A Little Messy
by NuitNoirechan
Summary: Baking together is a fun activity, but there's always the cleanup afterwards. There's a reason these two are entertainment for the rest of the Castle of Diamonds.


**This was going to be a lot longer, but it got broken up into two different stories... the other one isn't finished ^^;**

**I just love this pairing. I can't help it. They're so... interesting and amusing and cute and... and they really fit well together. Whenever one starts putting themselves down, the other stops them. They're really good for each other!**

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"What do you think you're doing!?"

Alice paused, her hand halfway to the mixing bowl. "What am I doing?" she repeated. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm adding eggs."

"Not yet!" With a quick motion, Sidney reached out and snatched the egg from her hand, setting it on the counter to the side more carefully than he'd grabbed them from her. "And not to that bowl either! Dry ingredients are to be mixed separately from the sugar, eggs, butter, and vanilla! Do you even know how to bake?"

Tempted to sigh, Alice instead rolled her eyes. "Yes I do, but this is the first time that I've made this recipe." She wasn't anything more than resigned

"Still, there are a few basic rules that you should follow when baking…"

The Black Rabbit had entered the kitchen only moments before to spot Alice at a far counter that was covered with baking ingredients and measuring tools. Although the kitchen was still busy as the chef and his assistants continued their daily preparations to feed the entire Castle, Alice had found a quiet section of the kitchen out of their way; she was barely visible from the door to the kitchen. Even so, and even with half vision, Sidney had spotted that the Outsider was about to add ingredients in an order that would result in the dry ingredients clumping.

This was the reason he had crossed the kitchen in record time and halted her before she could complete the action. "Do you not even know the basic rules for baking?" he went on, one hand finding his hip.

At this point, Alice knew she was in for a lecture that would doubtless leave her with a bitter taste in her mouth, even as much as she knew that he didn't mean for it to and that he was only trying to help. That, or he was just trying to make this cake turn out perfectly and wasn't doing it for her benefit- but either way it meant that he wasn't _trying_ to be cruel.

"I do know them," Alice responded with as much patience as she could muster. "I-"

"Then you weren't taking them into account. Here-" With that, Sidney plucked from the counter the large spoon she'd been going to use to stir the batter. "As you are no doubt going to insist on continuing to do things your own way, I am going to help you."

She almost protested; she had forgotten that Sidney was very good at baking. That fact aside, didn't he have work that was far more important than baking a cake? Alice was about to mention this when Sidney told her, "I am in need of a break. I can spare this much time."

"If you say so," responded Alice dubiously. If he was saying that, she wouldn't be able to change his mind… although she could still try, "You aren't going to use your break more enjoyably?"

He gave her a look. "And what do you mean by that?"

"Baking a cake with me can't be the best way for you to spend your break. You're going to be correcting everything I do, after all."

"How I use my break time is up to me. I don't try to control how you use _your_ break."

_'Actually, you HAVE,'_ Alice thought, yet at this point she gave up. He wouldn't let this go until she allowed him to help her, after all.

To his credit, Sidney was a good instructor when he was in a good mood, and once he got into it he seemed to cheer up some, so at the very least Alice was learning. Several times Sidney reminded her how to do something or how NOT to do something in a stern but not harsh voice; each time Alice took it to heart, doing her best to apply the suggestion (order? she wasn't sure). She knew him well enough to know that he didn't speak like this because he wanted to be rude, but rather because it was how he was used to speaking and how he got his point across- it was simply how Sidney Black was.

Thankfully the recipe was compiled without much trouble and, once the batter was in the pan, was placed into the oven to bake. At that point Alice turned to Sidney with a smile. "It only needs to bake now. When it's out and cooled some, I'll put the finishing touches on it and make sure you have the first piece, as repayment for your help. You can return to work now, Sidney."

To her surprise, he seemed dissatisfied, even if it was only visible as a tightening of his lips. "You appear eager to be relieved of my presence," he mused.

At this Alice's mouth fell open. "Of course not!" she protested. "I like being in your company."

"While at times I can believe that, at other times that's difficult to imagine…"

"Look, if I didn't like being around you, I'd let you know," Alice responded almost impatiently. If he was going to start this again, she'd have to stop him quickly lest he get moody and refuse to believe most of what she would say. "I _do_ like to be with you. I just don't want you getting too stressed again because you're splitting your attention between your work and-"

While speaking, Alice had been gathering up the dirty dishes from mixing the batter and everything else. In one arm was the bowl, with measuring cups placed inside it, while in her right hand was the spatula. She'd gestured repeatedly in a scolding motion with the spatula, only for it to slip out of here grip thanks to the batter coating it and smack right into Sidney's vest.

Both went silent, starting from the splattered batter on the black vest to the spatula on the floor. As soon as Alice glanced tentatively at Sidney's face… she knew he was far from thrilled. That smile he wore wasn't going to deceive anyone.

"I'm sorry," Alice began in a hurry. "I didn't mean for that to happen! I- hyaa!?"

In the time it took her to say that much, Sidney had almost casually reached out to swipe some of the remaining batter from the bowl in her hands, and had proceeded to flick it at her. The batter spattered her face and the collar of her one piece.

"Wha- what was that for!?" exclaimed Alice as she wiped the batter from her eyes. Sidney looked far too satisfied.

"I'm simply exchanging the favor," was his nonchalant answer. He turned up his palms and added smugly, "And now you have a reason to be away from me, do you not?"

Oh that wasn't fair at all. A huff from Alice was all the warning she gave before she snatched a handful of flour from the still open flour jar, throwing that over the Black Rabbit and setting him sneezing as it got up his nose. Knowing what would happen next, she set the bowl and other supplies down in the sink to face Sidney.

Her suspicions were confirmed when, eyes still watery and still trying to control his sneezing, Sidney caught up a fistful of flour as well and flung it at Alice. It created more of a cloud than Alice's handful and distributed itself equally over the both of them, causing both to cough and effectively distracting them from throwing any more food or ingredients at one another.

"… What a mess," sighed Alice as she ruefully plucked at a strand of her hair and eyed the flour coating it. "This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't decided to retaliate. That spatula only slipped from my grip on accident…"

"I know that," Sidney responded as if it were obvious.

He earned a hard look from Alice at that comment. "Then why did you splatter me in return?"

"Hmmm, I wonder…"

"That isn't an answer! You know why you did that, don't even try playing innocent!"

Sidney had begun fishing in his pockets for his handkerchief; apparently he had forgotten which one he had put it in, odd a thing for him to do though that was. "All right then," he said, glancing once at Alice. "I did it because I felt like it." At that point he retrieved his handkerchief and unfolded it with a snap of his wrist. "Come here, Alice."

"I can clean myself!" she protested, except that the Black Rabbit had already set to wiping the flour and batter off of her face. Alice's cheeks burned, secretly pleased though she was.

"I know you can," Sidney answered simply; he didn't stop cleaning the drying cake batter from her face.

"Then why are you-"

"Because I want to, and no other reason." For a moment he paused, and Alice began to think that he might have stopped for good even after his most recent comment. This turned out to be false, for he leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Unless you'd rather I lick it off…? That's entirely up to you."

Face flaming, she jerked back and shook her head hard. "N-n-no thank you! This is good!" Alice squeaked.

He just chuckled twice, amused. "I thought as much."

"If you were to try it, I would have to throw flour on you once again."

"I wouldn't let you."

As the two continued their light bickering, neither noticed the maids peeking into the kitchen to watch, all of whom were giggling behind their hands. Nor did they spot Crysta- child form- snacking on a piece of fruit filled cake and observing with much interest.

No one in the castle could resist viewing the antics of the Prime Minister and the castle's resident Outsider.


End file.
